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.Fred, George, and Ginny had chosen to stay at school ratherthan visit Bill in Egypt with Mr.and Mrs.Weasley. Percy, who disapproved of what he termed their childish behavior,didn’t spend much time in the Gryffindor common room.He had already told thempompously that he was only staying over Christmas because it was his duty as aprefect to support the teachers during this troubled time.Christmas morning dawned, cold and white.Harry andRon, the only ones left in their dormitory, were woken very early by Hermione,who burst in, fully dressed and carrying presents for them both."Wake up," she said loudly, pulling backthe curtains at the window."Hermione - you’re not supposed to be in here-" said Ron, shielding his eyes against the light."Merry Christmas to you, too," saidHermione, throwing him his present."I’ve been up for nearly an hour,adding more lacewings to the potion.It’s ready."Harry sat up, suddenly wide awake."Are you sure?""Positive," said Hermione, shiftingScabbers the rat so that she could sit down on the end of Ron’s four-poster."If we’re going to do it, I say it should be tonight."At that moment, Hedwig swooped into the room, carryinga very small package in her beak."Hello," said Harry happily as she landedon his bed."Are you speaking to me again?"She nibbled his ear in an affectionate sort of way,which was a far better present than the one that she had brought him, whichturned out to be from the Dursleys.They had sent Harry a toothpick and a notetelling him to find out whether he’d be able to stay at Hogwarts for the summervacation, too.The rest of Harry’s Christmas presents were far moresatisfactory. Hagrid had sent him alarge tin of treacle fudge, which Harry decided to soften by the fire beforeeating; Ron had given him a book called Flying with the Cannons, a book ofinteresting facts about his favorite Quidditch team, and Hermione had boughthim a luxury eagle-feather quill.Harry opened the last present to find a new,hand-knitted sweater from Mrs.Weasley and a large plum cake.He read her cardwith a fresh surge of guilt, thinking about Mr.Weasley’s car (which hadn’tbeen seen since its crash with the Whomping Willow), and the bout ofrule-breaking he and Ron were planning next.No one, not even someone dreading taking PolyjuicePotion later, could fail to enjoy Christmas dinner at Hogwarts.The Great Hall looked magnificent.Not only were therea dozen frost-covered Christmas trees and thick streamers of holly andmistletoe crisscrossing the ceiling, but enchanted snow was falling, warm anddry, from the ceiling.Dumbledore led them in a few of his favorite carols,Hagrid booming more and more loudly with every goblet of eggnog he consumed.Percy, who hadn’t noticed that Fred had bewitched his prefect badge so that itnow read "Pinhead," kept asking them all what they were sniggeringat.Harry didn’t even care that Draco Malfoy was making loud, snideremarks about his new sweater from theSlytherin table.With a bit of luck, Malfoy would be getting his comeuppance ina few hours’ time.Harry and Ron had barely finished their third helpingsof Christmas pudding when Hermione ushered them out of the hall to finalizetheir plans for the evening."We still need a bit of the people you’rechanging into," said Hermione matter-of-facdy, as though she were sendingthem to the supermarket for laundry detergent."And obviously, it’ll bebest if you can get something of Crabbe’s and Goyle’s; they’re Malfoys bestfriends, he’ll tell them anything.And we also need to make sure the realCrabbe and Goyle can’t burst in on us while we’re interrogating him."I’ve got it all worked out," she went onsmoothly, ignoring Harry’s and Ron’s stupefied faces.She held up two plumpchocolate cakes. "I’ve filledthese with a simple Sleeping Draught.All you have to do is make sure Crabbeand Goyle find them.You know how greedy they are, they’re bound to eat them.Once they’re asleep, pull out a few of their hairs and hide them in a broomcloset."Harry and Ron looked incredulously at each other."Hermione, I don’t think -""That could go seriously wrong -"But Hermione had a steely glint in her eye not unlikethe one Professor McGonagall sometimes had."The potion will be useless without Crabbe’s andGoyle’s hair," she said sternly."You do want to investigateMalfoy, don’t you?""Oh, all right, all right," said Harry."But what about you? Whose hair are you ripping out?""I’ve already got mine!" said Hermionebrightly, pulling a tiny bottle out of her pocket and showing them the singlehair inside it. "RememberMillicent Bulstrode wrestling with me at the Dueling Club? She left this on myrobes when she was trying to strangle me! And she’s gone home for Christmas - so I’ll just have to tell theSlytherins I’ve decided to come back."When Hermione had bustled off to check on thePolyjuice Potion again, Ron turned to Harry with a doom-laden expression."Have you ever heard of a plan where so manythings could go wrong?"But to Harry’s and Ron’s utter amazement, stage one ofthe operation went just as smoothly as Hermione had said.They lurked in thedeserted entrance hall after Christmas tea, waiting for Crabbe and Goyle whohad remained alone at the Slytherin table, shoveling down fourth helpings oftrifle.Harry had perched the chocolate cakes on the end of the banisters.Whenthey spotted Crabbe and Goyle coming out of the Great Hall, Harry and Ron hidquickly behind a suit of armor next to the front door."How thick can you get?" Ron whisperedecstatically as Crabbe gleefully pointed out the cakes to Goyle and grabbedthem.Grinning stupidly, they stuffed the cakes whole into their large mouths.For a moment, both of them chewed greedily, looks of triumph on their faces.Then, without the smallest change of expression, they both keeled over backwardonto the floor.By far the hardest part was hiding them in the closetacross the hall.Once they were safely stowed among the buckets and mops, Harryyanked out a couple of the bristles that covered Goyle’s fore head and Ronpulled out several of Crabbe’s hairs.They also stole their shoes, becausetheir own were far too small for Crabbe- and Goyle-size feet.Then, stillstunned at what they had just done, they sprinted up to Moaning Myrtle’sbathroom.They could hardly see for the thick black smokeissuing from the stall in which Hermione was stirring the cauldron.Pullingtheir robes up over their faces, Harry and Ron knocked softly on the door."Hermione?"They heard the scrape of the lock and Hermioneemerged, shiny-faced and looking anxious.Behind her they heard the gloop gloopof the bubbling, glutinous potion.Three glass tumblers stood ready on thetoilet seat."Did you get them?" Hermione askedbreathlessly.Harry showed her Goyle’s hair."Good.And I sneaked these spare robes out of thelaundry," Hermione said, holding up a small sack."You’ll needbigger sizes once you’re Crabbe and Goyle."The three of them stared into the cauldron.Close up,the potion looked like thick, dark mud, bubbling sluggishly."I’m sure I’ve done everything right,"said Hermione, nervously rereading the splotched page of Moste Potente Potions."It looks like the book says it should.once we’ve drunk it, we’llhave exactly an hour before we change back into ourselves.""Now what?" Ron whispered."We separate it into three glasses and add thehairs."Hermione ladled large dollops of the potion into eachof the glasses
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